Putin says Russia will deploy troops to Finland's border now it is in NATO, RIA reports

'This is an absolutely meaningless step (for Finland and Sweden) from the point of view of ensuring their own national interests,' Putin said.

President Vladimir Putin said in remarks published on Wednesday that Finland and Sweden's entry into NATO is "a meaningless step" and that Russia will deploy troops and systems of destruction to the Finnish border following Finland's accession to the alliance last April.

"This is an absolutely meaningless step (for Finland and Sweden) from the point of view of ensuring their own national interests," Putin told Russia's RIA state news agency and Rossiya-1 state television in a wide-ranging interview.

"We didn't have troops there (at the Finnish border), now they will be there. There were no systems of destruction there, now they will appear," he said.